The outbreak and spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected billions of people around the world, severely disrupting many aspects of their lives. Although not at the frontline of the pandemic response, Nuclear Medicine departments have to adopt their clinical routine to the new environment. A series of protective measures, including among others spatial arrangements to promote social distancing, meticulous hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment, workload reduction, patient screening at admission and examination protocol adjustments, have to be adopted in order to minimize the risk of spreading the infection and ensure the safety of both their patients and staff. As the pandemic seems to slowly recede, the valuable experience gained should help everyone be much better prepared for a possible new outbreak.On December 2019, a new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in China and spread worldwide, causing acute severe respiratory syndrome. Due to the increased transmission rate of the virus, it became of great importance the early diagnosis of the disease. The coronavirus pandemic led to the development of numerous tests in order to mass screening population for active viral load and for the identification of antibodies for epidemiological purposes. This review summarizes the different diagnostic tests available to the clinicians for the diagnosis and follow up of the SARS COV-2 infections.Nearly 19.9 million cases and more than 730 thousand disease-related deaths have been confirmed in the months that followed WHO's assessment that the novel coronavirus COVID-19, first emerged in Wuhan China on December 2019, could be characterized as a pandemic. The aforementioned coronavirus affected 188 countries as of 8.10.2020. Despite the continually increasing number of COVID-19 cases reported to CDC, at national level, the percentage of visits to outpatient providers and emergency departments has decreased and mortality rates attributed to COVID-19 have declined compared to the previous weeks, still above the baseline. It is common knowledge that the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped societies and economies around the globe, affecting all aspects of everyday life. Public health systems as a whole have been globally affected since they had to face extraordinary demands over a long period of time, which, in turn, required rapid adjustments in the operating procedures that were already in use, in order todate the field of medical research and change the governmental policies in place that have been stagnant and/or inefficient and ill-managed. This way, health systems will be equipped with better and faster protocols and best practices in order to manage efficiently any other pandemic that might emerge in the future. In this context, Nuclear Medicine departments should reconsider and update their practices, by altering routines and workflows in order to comply with the new sanitary standards, triaging their appointments, or introducing new diagnostic methods like Tele-Medicine / Tele Nuclear Medicine and Artificial Intelligence applications. This special edition of Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine has as its main purpose to introduce and communicate those new practices and protocols/standard operating procedures, in order for the scientific community, health public institutions, affected individuals and their families to be duly informed.BACKGROUND Limb ischemia (LI) is the underlying pathology of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Macrophages play a critical role in inflammation and can contribute to the exacerbation or reduction of inflammation. Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is an emerging therapeutic strategy for PAD. However, the mechanism by which human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) regulate macrophage differentiation in ischemic tissue remains unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS Placentas were obtained from healthy donors with normal 38- to 40-week gestation, and PMSCs were isolated from the placentas and cultured. A mouse model of hind-limb ischemia was established. Ischemic limbs were injected intramuscularly with about 5×10? PMSCs in the PMSCs group or a placebo solution (phosphate-buffered saline) in the control group at 4 different sites 1 day after the procedure. The blood perfusion of hind-limbs and the histological morphology were observed at day 1, 7, and 14 after the surgical procedure. Macrophagesic benefits in injured ischemic limbs.Yolk sac tumour (YST) or endodermal sinus tumour is rare and typically seen in gonads.
We described a case of extragonadal vaginal YST in a one year and seven months old girl who presented with vaginal discharge and bleeding, and discuss its differential diagnosis and potential pitfalls in immunohistochemistry. She was found to have a suprapubic mass on examination. The serum alpha fetoprotein was 11919.4 ng/mL. Computed tomography of the pelvis revealed a large 6.4 cm heterogenous pelvic mass. Colposcopic examination of the pelvis showed a fungating vaginal mass that was subsequently confirmed as a yolk sac tumour. Immunohistochemically, the malignant cells were positive toward CKAE1/AE3, AFP and glypican-3, as well as CD117.
Solid pattern extragonadal vaginal YST may morphologically resemble dysgerminoma that is also CD117 positive, while the glandular pattern YST may have clear cytoplasm and is positive for cytokeratin; hence, may resemble clear cell carcinoma. Being mindful of these potential diagnostic caveats is necessary to prevent misdiagnosis.
Solid pattern extragonadal vaginal YST may morphologically resemble dysgerminoma that is also CD117 positive, while the glandular pattern YST may have clear cytoplasm and is positive for cytokeratin; hence, may resemble clear cell carcinoma. Being mindful of these potential diagnostic caveats is necessary to prevent misdiagnosis.Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-limiting autosomal recessive disorder as a result of CF transmembrane conductance regulator gene mutation. It has a wide range of disease severity in patients with the same genotype.
A 5-year-old Malay boy with a history of recurrent pneumonia, presented with productive cough, fever and worsening tachypnoea. Physical examination revealed coarse crepitations, reduced breath sounds and clubbing. Biochemical investigations showed that he had respiratory type 2 failure as a result of bronchiectasis. Sweat conductivity done twice was raised supporting a diagnosis of CF. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mek162.html Other investigations such as bronchoscopy to look for congenital anomaly of the lung, infectious disease screening and tuberculosis, fungal and viral culture and sensitivity were negative. Further cascade screening revealed high sweat conductivity results in his siblings.
Although CF prevalence is low in Malaysia, it is nevertheless an important diagnosis to be recognised as it is associated with increased morbidity.